Eat Like Ushi

After fawning over the remarkable Lost in Translation, a pivotal place to visit was the New York Bar high up in the Shinjuku Park Hyatt. Since I stayed on the funkier east, walking to the business west actually took a lot longer than anticipated.

The views and the majesty are equally matched by the prices and meats are available from around the world at a premium. I seem to recall paying $60-70 for a steak from Australia (which after the fact seemed unnecessary considering I get Australian steak all over Australia usually... but you live and learn).

I don't think I need to go there again, but I'm glad I have once in my life.

After years of religiously watching the original Iron Chef Japan on SBS each weekend and marvelling at the rushed creations of Michiba, Sakai and Chen, it was natural that my instinct was to find their restaurants in Tokyo. Sakai has La Rochelle but French isn't my favourite. Chen's dishes interested me with the chilli and heat but I thought Michiba was the most invincible (other than the German chef who beat him in the peppers battle) and his food being modern Japanese would be the most memorable.

On the 8th floor of this building in Ginza, the two of us were the only non-Japanese people in the restaurant. They did have an English menu translation and so I'm sure there have been tourist Iron Chef fans before us to make that worth their while.

Although Michiba wasn't there himself, the meal was spectacular. Tradition mixed with modern, in combinations well before their time in the world of fusion. The flavours were strong and typically Japanese with a little something extra.

One of my favourite meals of all time.

Hors d'oeuvre platter
- Deep fried scallop & yam ball coated with broad bean bits;
- Konbu seaweed infused seabream sushi wrapped in cherry leaf;
- Grilled cheese aged in miso & sake lees;
- Boiled tiger prawn with vinegared taro potatoe in saffron jelly cube;
- Tender simmered sweet-soy flavoured baby turbo shell;
- Blanched nobiru chives served with a vinegared miso;
- Fragrant new season's bamboo shoot sprinkled with bonito flakes.

Soup
- Soft-shelled turtle ball rolled in tapioca, served in a delicate bonito broth, sprinkled with chopped leek & ginger juice.

Sashimi
- Bonito, sea bream, squid.

Grilled Dish
- Grilled hairtail, octopus, tripe & steamed vegetable salad, served with a truffled dressing, garnished with salmon roe. This dish was truly remarkable in flavour.

Simmered Dish
- Sharkfin in a thickened golden bonito broth, served on a savoury egg custard with soybean-milk-skin & nameko mushroom.

Refresher
- Green leaf pickle sushi.

Main Course
- Fresh fish of the day simmered with burdock in a sweet flavoured soy sauce;
- Japanese lobster served simmered in a sweet miso sauce.

Rice & Noodle Dish (served with pickles)
- Mackerel aged 3 years in rice bran (nuka-saba) on rice with a light dashi broth;
- Michiba style "curry udon" (thick wheat noodles served in a curried broth).

Dessert
- Seasonal fruits, apple sorbet, sampokan citrus jelly served in its own cup.

There are many reputed Kobe beef venues in Tokyo, although if you read extensively very few are actually Kobe, but rather similar types of cow bred elsewhere. In order to be designated Kobe beef, the specific black Tajima-ushi cow breed that is born, raised and slaughtered in Kobe. It seems that only a few Tokyo restaurants serve authentic Kobe beef, which may be imported beef directly from slaughter or a variation on a theme of importing the entire cow for slaughter elsewhere (not technically Kobe, but close enough...)

After much research, I settled on 511 for their reputation of serving award winning Kobe beef (Grade A5 Beef Marbling Score 11 - hence the restaurant name) and also being one of the few that serves it as a kaiseki menu as well as the usual beef steak only option.

All guests other than us were Japanese, and my language skills (and their English skills) were not great in conveying which cuts of beef and added ingredients were being served. It didn't detract from an superlative meal.

The starter of seared Kobe beef with cod roe was a little teaser of the quality of beef and a salty roe kick to enhance the flavours. The 5 appetisers were from various parts of the cow, all nice but none particularly memorable. The chawanmushi was wonderful with uni (I adore good uni) above and tender beef underneath. The miso beef was reminiscent of Nobu's cod except with a heavier core. The monkfish was a refreshing break in between two beef courses, wedged on the other side by two beef sushi - one served with grated ginger and the other topped with salt.

We were then treated to an additional extra of Kobe beef jerky - salt cured and wetting appetites for the main attraction.

The A5 B11 Kobe sirloin was amazing. The proportion of fat is evident from the photos. Each slice was a melting flavour of beef and fat. It was unparalleled to any Wagyu beef I've previously tried all outside Japan - there is no competition. Sadly for me I paid a bit extra for the eye fillet, which had a much less percentage of fat (I read later this is expected given the different muscles areas) and was cooked more medium than my preferred rare.

Some rice and dessert dishes rounded up the meal but I remained transfixed on the beef that had just passed and contemplated whether to order any sirloin steak just to relive the experience. I refrained. I will go again.

Next time I would order the kaiseki menu again. The experience and variety is a much better overall dinner than I imagine a rich fatty steak alone. Choose sirloin, remember not to count calories and give thanks to the cows.

(Other places serve other cuts including rib-eye and chateaubriand - I'd be curious to know how their marbling compares with sirloin. If you only have one experience though, I'd definitely recommend sirloin for price and to know what you're getting.)